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The Problem of Agriculture

The current land-use paradigm of the Midwest: strict separation of agriculture and ecology.

Row-crop agriculture is the dominant land-use in the Midwest USA. Although extremely productive, row-crops are the primary contributor to the degradation of the region’s natural habitat, water quality, and rural communities.

Farm simplification leads to reliance on off-farm jobs, erosion of rural communities, and rural youth fleeing to the cities.

Incremental improvements to this prevailing system have been the primary focus of efforts to reduce these negative impacts: cover crops, low/no-till, precision management, organic management, etc. However, incremental approaches have proven insufficient to reverse greenhouse gas emissions and solve the ecological challenges of row crop agriculture.

Instead, transformative solutions that address the problem OF agriculture, rather than the problems IN agriculture, are needed for resilient landscapes and vibrant rural economies.

Agroforestry: The Solution

Agroforestry practices can simultaneously restore ecological function to agricultural land while enhancing productivity.

Agroforestry constitutes a suite of intensive agricultural practices that integrate trees, crops & livestock. The most common agroforestry practices recognized by the US Department of Agriculture include: